Lax security: Truckers block highways for security
Some Lahore-based associations back out of strike.
MULTAN/LAHORE:
Truckers throughout the province blocked the national highways on Tuesday to demand police protection for goods transport vehicles in Punjab and Balochistan.
Protesting on the call of the Goods Transport Association (GTA) Punjab, truckers took out rallies outside the offices of regional and district police officers.
Speaking at the Vehari protest, GTA Punjab Senior Vice President Chaudary Abdul Hameed said that over 10 drivers and staff had been killed in Balochistan over the year. “Police has provided truckers no protection in either province,” he said.
Speaking at Dera Ghazi Khan, GTA Punjab Vice President Abdul Salam Nasir said that the boycott was to register our protest and if the government did not take action, more protests were likely. He said that in DG Khan alone, over 20 trucks had been looted over the last two months.
GTA officials in Multan said that crime had increased by 80% in the province.
The protests were been attended by drivers, staff and labourers working with transporters and the goods association.
The GTA demanded that the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and IG Punjab Haji Habibur Rehman provide special security for the goods transport association in Punjab.
They threatened that if truckers went on permanent strike, no goods will reach the markets. They said that robbers do not merely steal goods but drivers have been shot too.
In Lahore, dozens of goods transporters staged a demonstration and blocked Ravi Road for over an hour in solidarity with a nation-wide strike of goods transport companies on Tuesday.
The strike was called in protest against the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products and the rise in number of robberies on the highways. Some transporters’ groups backed out of the strike observed by the All Pakistan Truck-Trolley Motor Association (APTTMA), saying that they would soon give a strike call of their own.
The protesters on Ravi Road also chanted slogans against traffic wardens, accusing them of imposing fines without good reason.
Sheikh Mateen of the APTTMA said the country-wide strike was meant to send a message to the government. “The government should realise that transporters will go to any lengths for their rights,” he said.
He said the government’s policies were discouraging business activity in the country. In addition, he said, the number of robberies on the highways had increased disproportionately and the police had yet to take appropriate action to provide security to their consignments.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Aleem Butt of All Pakistan Goods Transport Association while his association was not a part of the demonstrations, they were observing a boycott of work in solidarity with other transporters.
“Our trucks are robbed of the goods they’re transporting in broad daylight and the police do nothing to catch the robbers,” he said. He said the next strike would feature a sit-in in front of the National Assembly.
All Pakistan Transport Owners Association Senior Vice President Peerzada Mushtaq said his association had stayed way from the strike as they did not expect anything coming out of it. He said they might call a separate strike in the coming days.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2012.
Truckers throughout the province blocked the national highways on Tuesday to demand police protection for goods transport vehicles in Punjab and Balochistan.
Protesting on the call of the Goods Transport Association (GTA) Punjab, truckers took out rallies outside the offices of regional and district police officers.
Speaking at the Vehari protest, GTA Punjab Senior Vice President Chaudary Abdul Hameed said that over 10 drivers and staff had been killed in Balochistan over the year. “Police has provided truckers no protection in either province,” he said.
Speaking at Dera Ghazi Khan, GTA Punjab Vice President Abdul Salam Nasir said that the boycott was to register our protest and if the government did not take action, more protests were likely. He said that in DG Khan alone, over 20 trucks had been looted over the last two months.
GTA officials in Multan said that crime had increased by 80% in the province.
The protests were been attended by drivers, staff and labourers working with transporters and the goods association.
The GTA demanded that the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and IG Punjab Haji Habibur Rehman provide special security for the goods transport association in Punjab.
They threatened that if truckers went on permanent strike, no goods will reach the markets. They said that robbers do not merely steal goods but drivers have been shot too.
In Lahore, dozens of goods transporters staged a demonstration and blocked Ravi Road for over an hour in solidarity with a nation-wide strike of goods transport companies on Tuesday.
The strike was called in protest against the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products and the rise in number of robberies on the highways. Some transporters’ groups backed out of the strike observed by the All Pakistan Truck-Trolley Motor Association (APTTMA), saying that they would soon give a strike call of their own.
The protesters on Ravi Road also chanted slogans against traffic wardens, accusing them of imposing fines without good reason.
Sheikh Mateen of the APTTMA said the country-wide strike was meant to send a message to the government. “The government should realise that transporters will go to any lengths for their rights,” he said.
He said the government’s policies were discouraging business activity in the country. In addition, he said, the number of robberies on the highways had increased disproportionately and the police had yet to take appropriate action to provide security to their consignments.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Aleem Butt of All Pakistan Goods Transport Association while his association was not a part of the demonstrations, they were observing a boycott of work in solidarity with other transporters.
“Our trucks are robbed of the goods they’re transporting in broad daylight and the police do nothing to catch the robbers,” he said. He said the next strike would feature a sit-in in front of the National Assembly.
All Pakistan Transport Owners Association Senior Vice President Peerzada Mushtaq said his association had stayed way from the strike as they did not expect anything coming out of it. He said they might call a separate strike in the coming days.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2012.